The present invention relates to wound dressings.
Wound dressings containing superabsorbent polymers in particular for application on heavily secreting wounds have been described in various forms in the prior art. For example the book “Modern Superabsorbent Polymer Technology” edited by Frederick L. Buchholz and Andrew T. Graham, published in 1998 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 0-471-19411-5 on page 251 discloses the usage of superabsorbent polymers for the design of effective wound dressings.
WO 03/094813 describes a wound dressing comprising a pouch, in which an absorbent core consisting of a non-woven material comprising superabsorbent polymers dispersed therein is located.
Typically, pouches of the prior art wound dressings containing a superabsorbent substance known from the prior art are formed by applying a seam between a facing layer and a backing layer. In order to be able to do so, the facing layer and the backing layer do extend beyond the absorbent core and are joined together, e.g. by using a glue, such that when viewed from the top the glued seam surrounds the area of the absorbent core.
Due to the seam surrounding the actual absorbent core, the known wound dressings tend to have edges, which do not have the desired softness of a medical product to be brought into contact with a patient's skin. Clinical use of such dressings has shown that due to the hard and stiff boundary area of the wound dressing skin irritations on the healthy skin surrounding the actual wound occur.